Grand Prix 2018 Mexico Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The Mexican grand prix is our next race and you lucky people have got me writing this one up. Good luck to all who carry on reading, you might need it ;)

F1 has long had a stop and start love affair with Mexico City but the Autrodromo Hermanos Circuit once again hosts this race. For those who don't already know, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was in part named after two brothers who tragically lost their lives there. Ricardo died shortly after the circuit opened in 1962 and sadly his brother Pedro also died whilst racing some nine years later in 1971 but in Germany. It is located in Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City which is in the south east of Mexico City and is a public park that has been used for other events such as a baseball, the park is also home to the Insomniacs Electric Festival or EDC Mexico, a popular music festival that attracts over 200,000 people.

The thin air in Mexico City can cause problems for both drivers and cars, the speed at which the cars can get up to on the main straight is 370 km/h or 230 mph in old money. It first appeared on the calendar in 1962 as a non championship race before becoming a championship race in 1963. It remained on the calendar until 1970, had a brief reinstatement from 1986 to 1992 before finally returning again in 2015 and has since run to date. During one of the breaks it was used for the Grand Prix Of Mexico Champ Car. Sebastien Bourdais the former Toro Rosso driver apparently won three of the six races held there from 2002 - 2007.

After some speculation in the years beforehand, this race returned to the calendar in 2015. It was probably helped by having two Mexican drivers at that time with Sergio 'Checo' Perez and Esteban Gutierrez. Whilst Gutierrez is now a mere memory Perez is still there plugging away at Racing Point Force India and will no doubt be the busiest man on the grid this race weekend. Perez has never done that well at his home race, he's certainly not made an appearance on the podium so far. Can he do better this year? Somehow I doubt it unless something extraordinary happens ahead of him. Checo has of course been confirmed at Racing Point Force India in 2019 most likely with Lance Stroll as his team mate. His current team mate Esteban Ocon could be doing a straight swap with Stroll by taking his former seat at Williams.

Since 2015 we've had three different winners here, Rosberg in 2015, Hamilton in 2016 and Verstappen in 2017, so will it be a fourth different driver on the top step in 2018? In 2017 your pole sitter was Vettel and the podium was as follows: 1st Verstappen, 2nd Bottas, 3rd Raikkonen.

With only this race and two more this year it’s so far been a season for Mercedes to savour and for Ferrari to wonder where it all went so wrong. A really good race in USA and a rare win by Kimi with Seb 4th and the title goes on to Mexico. Vettel has made some big mistakes, mostly borne out of his desperation to win for Ferrari it seems, whether the pressure on him is coming from himself or the team it’s hard to say, either way it’s not done his racing any good. He did well in Austin though, that pass at the end on Bottas was crucial in some ways. Vettel and Verstappen both have new team mates coming in 2019, I am wondering what, if any, effect that will have on them. I’d like to think it would be positive but who knows?

So it's hello or Hola! to Mexico, slap on your sombrero, let your feet get tapping to the rhythmn of the mariachi bands and let’s hope we all enjoy another good race.
 
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I think Max might do a silly move down the inside and take himself and his teammate out which is what Vettel is hoping

If Max gets a good start and stays with Ricciardo I think he should win it judging by the pace he's shown
 
I think Max might do a silly move down the inside and take himself and his teammate out which is what Vettel is hoping

If Max gets a good start and stays with Ricciardo I think he should win it judging by the pace he's shown

It would be better for Seb if Max took Hamilton out ;)

Ricciardo's engine will blow up at some point because that's what's been happening.

Then Ricciardo's engine could blow and it would keep the championship alive for another race!! :thumbsup:

Before anyone says it, I know, I know, it should be a good clean start and all of them racing properly. The title shouldn't be won on one person taking another out and so on, but as a Vettel fan it's all there is left to hope for this season :teary:
 
well that was a shock, where did Riccardio find that because all weekend & to be honest most of last 6 races up until 2mins to go in Q3. always a few tenths off Verstappen in qualifying but great lap & vettel will be delighted as his ex teammate has just kept his record, barring wet qualifying in interlagos & interesting stats that this was red bulls 1st front row lockout since the really boring US gp in 2013 & 1st time a red bull has taken pole outside of Monaco since the final race of V8 era with vettel 2013 Brazilian gp

I can see tears into that 1st corner, because Riccardio & Verstappen aren't known for yielding, vettel has to win & lewis will be there with horsepower advtange & the tow. so we could be 4 a brest which could be a recipe for disaster. also I saw this morning to add this there is 55% of thunderstorms from 2pm - 4pm (Mexican time)

also this is a mute point but I had a strange dream last night of watching Mexican gp, rained by lap 25 & it was max Verstappen flanked by 2 toro rosso drivers which I think is so unlikely, vettel has more chance of winning of world championship. but if that Happens it will be exciting ;):D
 
RasputinLives Now that's a nice conspiracy theory Red Bull giving Daniel - worse engines so he does not beat Max but wait the engines are supplied by Daniel's new employees

It will be more interesting to see what pit stop strategy they run.. leave Max out longer so he can do clear laps and bulk Daniel in traffic .. Mark Webber knows a thing or two about being screwed up in pit stop strategy by Red Bull
 
Not a conspiracy theory. I don't think Red Bull are doing it delib but it feels like Danny Ric hasn't finished a race since May.
 
Since France when the argument about Towgate

Verstappen 5 podiums , 1 retirement
Ricciardo 0 podiums and 5 retirements

Since Hungary when Ricciardo announced he was joining Renault

Verstappen 4 podiums in 6 races
Riccardio - 0 podiums and 3 retirements

I think how they run the pit strategy will be interesting and the subsequent reactions afterwards if they were allowed to race or not
"Multi 21" anyone ?
 
There’s nothing Red Bull would like more than Ric to win. Send him off on a high. Conspiracy talk is nonsense.

But they’ve gotta get thru turn one first!
 
Why would RB do that Il_leone? As usual - if in that situation - RB will allow them to race, sensibly, then cross their fingers, only uncrossing them in order to bite their nails during the race. As it should be.
 
They’d be sillier not to let Ric win a race on merit. It would show there’s no (or less than perceived) bias in the team, and also that Ric is wrong to leave s race-winning team. It would be a huge plus for RB, and Ric. Verstappen isn’t in danger of losing a WDC if he is beaten, and is there next season anyway, has already won races and will win more. It’s hugely in a Red Bull’s favour for Ric to win.
 
Red Bull should let Ricciardo win if he's in the lead, I agree entirely with what you said, I just bet they don't though. He did the dirty on them by signing with another team when they thought he was going to stay with them, so now they want their favourite Max to win to prove Ricciardo made a big mistake.
 
I'm not suggesting RB won't let him win. They are quite fair like that. It's just clear who they would prefer to win!
 
Anyone who rubbished Ricciardo's ability take note that is twice this season where Verstappen looks like he was about to deliver and fails to do it at the final hurdle when the pressure is the greatest.
Several drivers didn’t improve on their first lap.
Anyone who rubbished Ricciardo's ability take note that is twice this season where Verstappen looks like he was about to deliver and fails to do it at the final hurdle when the pressure is the greatest.

Verstappen should stop blaming other things at times because he has the fastest car on that track
Don't you think that judgement is a bit harsh considering that they both had stunning laps with Ricciardo having the upper hand by 0.030 seconds. Ricciardo didn't have a good first run and Verstappen couldn't improve when he went out on his second lap. They both delivered, only that Ricciardo was even better yesterday and Verstappen wasn't the only one not to improve his initial time.

Of course Verstappen is frustrated, just like any other person with any competitive bone in him would be, if he's missed out on something he wanted to achieve. Let's not exaggerate his emotions. It has been said in other instances, the drivers don't get a chance to cool down after qualifying or the race and a microphone is shoved into their face before they even get the chance to take their helmets off.
 
Clay At the moment Verstappen is over hyped and yet to be display championship consistency and at the same time they were some people who were trying to write off Ricciardo on the basis he is getting whooped because he has not outqualified Verstappen for about 10 races
I don't think people give Ricciardo enough credit . What is shows is Verstappen has the baseline raw speed but he does not yet have the nous and astuteness to prepare himself for the crunch moments

Verstappen is blaming engine break down and other various problems even if its less than ideal the best drivers learn to overcome these problems to come out on top . Ricciardo had an engine issue as well in practice but he managed to put it together right at the end
 
The gap is less than 0.03 seconds, it would be difficult to even point out where Verstappen lost the time to Ricciardo and no one has been whooped only because he didn't manage to get pole. Both drove astounding laps to beat the Mercedes and Ferrari, and since 2016 Red Bull has had the strongest driver line-up and they showed that yesterday.
I don't see a lack of astuteness and nous with a gap that small. Improving on an already good lap is much more difficult than improving on a bad lap.
 
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